Yough Pioneer Tours

Young Pioneer Tours are the leading budget and adventure travel operator in the DPRK (North Korea). Browse through our extensive North Korean group tour schedule to find a group tour that best suits you and your budget.

Got extra time before or after your North Korean group tour? Then why not join our tour extensions in North Korea or China? Check out our great links, or get in touch and let us plan your extension for you.

Our North Korea independent tours are suitable for solo travellers, families, couples, friends, or for people who simply can’t find group tour dates to match. Our tours are very flexible in terms of itinerary, interests and we can cater to your budget too!

Young Pioneer Tours are the leading budget adventure travel company to off the wall, and off the beaten track destinations. Check out our International Group Tours and book your next adventure of a lifetime

Young Pioneer Tours organize a number of Group and independent trips throughout the old Soviet Union, including Chernobyl, Chechnya, Magadan, Tiraspol, and much more. If you are interested in traveling through the old USSR, YPT are your people.

Young Pioneer Tours were the FIRST company to pioneer trips to the Unrecognised Countries of Transnistria, Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karakabh, and South Ossetia, and we now offer a number of Group Tours, and independent packages.

Join one of our Worldwide Adventures to places as diverse as Cuba, The Philippines, Cambodia, Nepal, or Antarctica, with off the wall “places your mother would rather you stayed away from” being added all the time.

Colombia FARC Tour (May)

DESCRIPTION

In October 2016 the Colombian Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, more commonly known as the FARC, signed a historic peace agreement partially ending the longest running civil war in South America, and one of the oldest ones in the world.

Join YPT for our specialist FARC tour of Colombia that takes us through the capital Bogota to the former cocaine capital of Medellin, and finally the colonial town of Cartagena, with us checking out a whole host of FARC related stuff, indigenous peoples, and stunning nature along this 9 day adventure.

It might have had a chequered past, with landmines, and the remnants of the civil war and organized crime still very much omnipresent, but Colombia is slowly waking from its past and hitting the challenges of reform head on.

Join our adventure before the country is changed forever!

And if this tour is not enough, then it can be combined with the Che Guevara Revolutionary Tour in Cuba, discounts for booking both tours apply and of course there are discounts for all return Pioneers!

Related

Meet your YPT guide and the rest of the group at 2pm and head out for a walking tour of La Candelaria. This is where Simon Bolivar – El Liberator, the original Latin American revolutionary – was almost caught, and where various figures of Colombian history met their fate.

Head to the Military Museum where we even learn about the not commonly known role of Colombia in the Korean War!

Walk around the Parque Simon Bolivar and see what the locals get up to outside of work

Stop by the Congress and Supreme Court, which was seized by the Marxist guerrillas in 1985

Lunch in the city

We visit the Colon Theatre, which is where the peace process between the government and FARC was signed, as well as the Museo Banco De Republica, the main modern art museum

Head to the south side of the city, the main working-class area, for a bit of people watching. We head for dinner and then for a Friday night salsa night to remember in the Colombian capital. If you can’t dance don’t worry, rum will be available

Overnight in Bogota

Saturday May 12th – Sierra Nevada National Park

We get up early for the under two hours 9am flight from Bogota to Cartagena

On arrival, we transfer directly to the Sierra Nevada national park, which is home to many of the indigenous peoples of Colombia as well as its most diverse biosphere.

Lunch in Sierra Nevada

We will have lots of opportunities to explore the area and see wildlife

At night we not only camp out in the reserve but also do the whole BBQ and rum thing

Camping overnight

Sunday May 13th – Sierra Nevada National Park

We visit one of the local indigenous peoples the Wiwa in an Indian Reserve in the mid-highlands to learn about how they live

Local lunch with the Wiwa

We head back to Cartagena, where we check into the hotel before heading out for dinner to a Peruvian restaurant and drinks in Café Havana

Overnight in Cartagena

Monday May 14th – Cartagena

Cartagena is an old colonial city, so we spend the day touring around this historical city

We check out the old town and the city walls, as well as its 500-year-old coral stone forts from the Spanish era

Lunch at Interno, a restaurant staffed by former political prisoners

Climb La Popa Hill for a great view of the area and visit the 17th century Santa Cruz monastery

Check out the Spanish Inquisition Palace, where people were tortured and executed for crimes against Catholicism

Head out for local food and drinks in the Cartagena old town

Overnight in Cartagena

Tuesday May 15th – Medellin

Take a 10am flight to Medellin, Colombia’s second city

Medellin was the notorious crime-ridden home of drug lord Pablo Escobar, but since the mid-1990s things have calmed down a lot.

Head to the famous Museo de Antioquia including the world-famous sculptures by Fernando Botero in the park outside the museum

Go for dinner and drinks in Medellin

Overnight in Medellin

Wednesday May 16th – Medellin

Breakfast in the hotel before we jump on our bus to begin the tour of Medellin

In the morning we drive out to visit a project that helps farmers change from cocoa growing to coffee, part of the plan to eliminate the drug trade in Colombia

Lunch in a roadside almuerzo

After lunch, we visit a village that was recently de-mined by a charity and learn about the impact that the civil war has had on the people

Before dinner, we meet 2 former FARC soldiers who discuss their experiences during the civil war

Dinner and overnight in Medellin

Thursday May 17th – Medellin

You can’t go to Medellin without learning about its most infamous resident, so we do the full Pablo Escobar tour!

Our first stop is La Paz, the very modest community where Pablo grew up, with our local expert giving us a few interesting insights

We then go to explore the many luxurious buildings used to launder his money, as well as check out his bombed-out safe in the Monaco building, which was where the first car bomb in Colombia was detonated

After visiting Pablo´s prison or the “Cathedral”, get spectacular Medellin views and get ready to visit a private cemetery where siblings and cousins of the mafia boss finally rest even near Griselda Blanco or “black widow”, who was once Pablo´s mentor.

We finish off the tour by visiting the infamous La Manuela Mansion, where the notorious drug lord lived his somewhat over the top lifestyle

We take a boat over to the mansion where we will have enough free time to explore, take photos, and who knows maybe bump into a Hippo

Overnight in Medellin

Friday May 18th

We get up early for our morning flight to Bogota, where the tour ends, with YPT being able to arrange ongoing transport or accommodation for those that need it.

Young Pioneer Tours are the leading budget and adventure travel operator in the DPRK (North Korea). Browse through our extensive North Korean group tour schedule to find a group tour that best suits you and your budget.

Got extra time before or after your North Korean group tour? Then why not join our tour extensions in North Korea or China? Check out our great links, or get in touch and let us plan your extension for you.

Our North Korea independent tours are suitable for solo travellers, families, couples, friends, or for people who simply can’t find group tour dates to match. Our tours are very flexible in terms of itinerary, interests and we can cater to your budget too!

Young Pioneer Tours are the leading budget adventure travel company to off the wall, and off the beaten track destinations. Check out our International Group Tours and book your next adventure of a lifetime

Young Pioneer Tours organize a number of Group and independent trips throughout the old Soviet Union, including Chernobyl, Chechnya, Magadan, Tiraspol, and much more. If you are interested in traveling through the old USSR, YPT are your people.

Young Pioneer Tours were the FIRST company to pioneer trips to the Unrecognised Countries of Transnistria, Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karakabh, and South Ossetia, and we now offer a number of Group Tours, and independent packages.

Join one of our Worldwide Adventures to places as diverse as Cuba, The Philippines, Cambodia, Nepal, or Antarctica, with off the wall “places your mother would rather you stayed away from” being added all the time.